Bags



June 1956 R. J. WILLIAMS ETAL 2,751,142

BAGS

Filed Dec. 16, 1954 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J1me 1956 R. J. WlLLiAMS ETAL 2,751,142

BAGS

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 16, 1954 FIG] FIG 5 FIG 6 as 431 3P4? BAGS Russell J. Williams, Clayton, and Milton .1. Heirnos, Lemay, Mo., assignors to Bernis Bro. Bag (Zompany, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application December 16, 1954, Serial No. 475,636

10 Claims. (Cl. 22.9-62.5)

This invention relates to bags, and more particularly to valve bags such as are used for relatively finely divided material (fertilizer, for example) and which are filled by means of a filling spout received in the valve.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of a bag of the class described having an improved valve which is adapted automatically to provide a tight closure of the valve opening upon removal of the bag from the filling spout after the bag has been filled, the valve including a flexible valve sleeve of improved form which readily allows for reverse folding of an inner end portion of the sleeve and tucking of said inner end portion into a position blocking the inner end of the valve upon removal of the bag from the filling spout after the bag has been filled; and the provision of an economical valve as described which is reliable in operation to effect such tucking of said inner end portion as substantially to block the valve opening simply in response to removal of the bag from the spot after filling. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

- In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possible embodiments of the invention are illustrated.

Fig. 1 is a perspective illustrating a bag having a valve of this invention as it appears prior to providing an end closure at the valved end of the bag, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section in the central plane of the valve, showing the bag provided with the end clo sure;

Fig. 3 is a plan of a valve sleeve per se;

Fig. 3A is an enlarged section taken on 3A-3A of Fig. 3;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but on a smaller scale, showing the inner end portion of the valve sleeve as it appears when tucked upward and outward into the inner end of the sleeve; and,

Figs. 5-7 are views similar to Fig. 3 showing modifications of the valve sleeve of this invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawmgs.

Referring to the drawings, there is indicated at 1 in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 a multi-ply paper bag which is provided with a valve of this invention. As shown, the bag is a gusseted bag having three plies. The inner ply is designated 3, the intermediate ply is designated 5 and the outer ply is designated 7. It will be understood that the basic principles of the invention are applicable to a bag having any number of plies, or even to a single-ply bag.

The bag has a conventional tucked-in valve flap 9 at one of the corners at the upper end of the bag. At 11 is shown a valve sleeve of this invention which projects 2,751,142 Patented June 19, 1956 from the valve flap into the bag. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the valve sleeve 11 (illustrated per se in Fig. 3) comprises a blank of flexible paper which is inserted between the inner ply 3 and the intermediate ply 5 after the tucking in of the valve flap 9 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. After the insertion of the sleeve in the tucked-in valve flap 9, the respective end of the bag is provided with a closure indicated at 13 (see Figs. 2 and 4). As shown, this closure comprises a conventional stitched seam securing together the front and back walls of the bag, also including a paper tape 15 folded around the mouth of the bag, the folded tape being caught by the stitching. The valve flap 9 has a central fold indicated at 17, and sleeve 11 is folded in half on a central told 19 in line with and in extension of the fold 17, folds 17 and 19 being spaced from closure 13.

The sleeve 11 is shaped to have a base portion 21 having a total width corresponding to the total width of the inner end edge 23 of the valve flap. The outer corners of the base portion of the sleeve are cut off at a 45 angle as indicated at 25, and the sleeve is inserted between the inner ply 3 and the intermediate ply 5 to the point where these 45 angled corners 25 engage the 45 folds 27 on which the valve flap 9 is folded in. As shown best in Fig. 2, the sleeve is pasted to the inner ply 3 adjacent the inner end edge 23 of the valve flap by means of a stripe of adhesive 29, such as paste, extending from one side edge of the base portion 21 of the sleeve to the other side edge of the base portion. This stripe of adhesive prevents sifting of the contents of the bag between the inner ply 3 and the sleeve. It will be understood that under some circumstances it may be more desirable from the manufacturing standpoint to adhere the sleeve to the inner ply by means of spots of adhesive, rather than a continuous stripe of adhesive, to avoid undue stiffening of the bag where it needs to be folded to tuck in the valve flap. Thus, when spots are used instead of a stripe of adhesive, the spots are so located as not to be coincident with folds 27. The base portion projects inward for some distance from the inner end edge 23 of the valve flap 9 and the side margins of the base portion are caught in the end closure 13.

The sleeve 11 has a reduced extension generally designated 31 projecting inward from the base 21. This extension is folded in half on the central fold 19 of the sleeve. The extension is so shaped that, as folded in half in the bag, its two halves have inclined edges 33 which converge toward the central fold 19 of the sleeve in inward direction (see Figs. 1 and 2). These edges 33 intersect the base portion 21 at points 35 within (be low) the end closure 13. Accordingly, the extension is free of the closure 13. As shown, edges 33 preferably converge toward the central told at an angle of 45 The extension 31 has a nose portion 37 defined by the inner end edge 39 of the extension, which is cut off at right angles to the central told 19, and short side edges 41 parallel to the central fold 19. The corners of the nose are relieved by cutting them off at an angle of 45 as indicated at 43.

In accordance with this invention, the sleeve 11 is weakened along its longitudinal center line from near the inner end 23 of the valve flap 9 to the inner end of the sleeve. As shown in Figs. l-4, this weakening may be effected by cutting a relatively wide rectangular slit 45 in the sleeve. The slit 45 is covered with a piece of material 47 which is highly flexible and resistant to creasing, such as flexible sheet polyethylene or cellophane. Such material has greater flexibility than the paper of the sleeve. As shown in Figs. 1-4, the material is applied in the form of a strip wider than the slit 45 and narrower than the nose 37 extending from end-to-end of the sleeve and adhered to the sleeve as by means of paste. The weakening along the longitudinal center line allows for easy reverse folding of the inner end portion of the sleeve. The strip 47, being highly flexible and crease-resistant, does not offer any substantial resistance to reverse folding of the inner end portion of the sleeve.

Prior to filling the bag, the sleeve 11 is in the open condition shown in Fig. 2. It will be understood that the bag is usually filled by hanging it on a filling spout (not shown), the spout extending through the valve flap 9 and the sleeve 11. Then material is delivered through the spout into the bag. When the bag is filled, it is slipped ofl the spout and dropped onto a conveyor, landing on the conveyor in a horizontal position lying on its side opposite the side of the bag which includes the valve. As the bag drops onto the conveyor, its contents pour toward the valved end of the bag. After the filled bag is slipped oil the spout, and before the contents pouring toward the valved end of the bag reach the valve, the inner end portion of the sleeve automatically folds reversely and assumes a position preventing entry of material into the sleeve. Ideally, the inner end portion is completely reverse-folded and assumes a position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 4, tucked completely into the inner end of the sleeve. Even though the reversely folded inner end portion may not be tucked completely into the inner end of the sleeve, it automatically assumes a position engaging the valved end of the bag to prevent the material pouring toward the valved end of the bag from entering the sleeve. This is of utmost importance because if any substantial amount of material enters the sleeve as the bag drops onto the conveyor, leakage is apt to occur subsequently through the sleeve. It is believed that the reverse folding of the inner end portion of the sleeve and the tucking of said portion into its sleeve-blocking position occurs either due to air pressure being built up in the bag during the filling, this pressure acting on the sleeve when the bag is taken ofl the filling spout, or due to a puff of air from within the bag acting upon the sleeve as the material pours toward the valved end of the bag, or both. It will be understood that the inner end portion of the sleeve, in assuming the Fig. 4 sleeve-blocking position, is reversely folded as regards its initial condition, folding in half on its longitudinal center line and its two halves hinging into the inner end of the sleeve. When the inner end portion is in the Fig. 4 position, the inner end edge 39 of the extension lies closely adjacent the closure 13, and the side edges 41 of the nose 37 are generally coincident with the inner edge portions 53 of the base portion 21 of the sleeve.

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification of the sleeve wherein the weakening along the longitudinal center line is efiected by cutting a triangular slit 55 instead of a wide rectangular slit. Otherwise the sleeve is the same as that shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 illustrates another modification of the sleeve wherein the weakening slit, designated 57, is a line slit widening toward the inner end of the sleeve. Also, the strip 59 of material covering the slit is narrower than that shown in Fig. 3. Otherwise the sleeve is the same as that shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 illustrates still another modification of the sleeve wherein the weakening slit corresponds to the slit 57 of Fig. 6, and wherein the sleeve is formed with two inclined hinge lines, one in each half thereof and each designated 61, extending from a common point 63 in the central fold 19 of the sleeve to the inclined edges 33 of the extension 31. These hinge lines diverge away from the central fold 19 of the sleeve in inward direction, preferably at an angle of 45 to the central fold 19. They define in conjunction with the central fold 19 a closure flap F adapted to be tucked upward and outward completely into the inner end of the sleeve as shown in Fig. 4. This closure flap is constituted by the portion of the sleeve lying between the lines 61 and the inner end of the extension 31. The point 63, which is the intersection of the lines 61 and the central fold 19, is located inward of the inner end edge 23 of the valve flap 9 as the sleeve is applied to the bag, and is spaced from the inner end edge 39 of the extension 31 a distance somewhat less than the distance from the closure 13 to the central fold 19 but such that the closure flap F, when tucked completely into the inner end of the sleeve, extends substantially to the closure 13 to block the sleeve. The point 63 may be located directly at the inner end edge of the valve flap. The hinge lines 61 are formed by cutting lines of perforations in the sleeve, or by weakening the sleeve along lines 61 in any other suitable way. In this case a patch 65 of polyethylene or the like is pasted to the sleeve, extending from one side of the sleeve to the other and covering the slit 57 and lines 61.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the inven tion, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. In a bag, a valve extending into the bag at one corner and adapted to receive a filling spout, the valve including an inwardly extending flexible valve sleeve, the sleeve being folded on its longitudinal center line and having adjacent sides, the sleeve being weakened along its longitudinal center line toward its inner end, and a piece of sheet material of greater flexibility than the material of the sleeve secured to the sleeve over the weakened portion of the sleeve.

2. In a bag, a valve extending into the bag at one corner and adapted to receive a filling spout, the valve including an inwardly extending flexible valve sleeve,

the sleeve being folded on its longitudinal center line and having adjacent sides, the sleeve having a central slit toward its inner end, and a piece of crease-resistant sheet material of greater flexibility than the material of the sleeve secured to the sleeve over the slit.

3. In a bag, a valve extending into the bag at one corner and adapted to receive a filling spout, the valve including an inwardly extending paper valve sleeve, the sleeve being folded on its longitudinal center line and having adjacent sides, the sleeve having a central slit toward its inner end, and a piece of crease-resistant sheet plastic material of greater flexibility than the material of the sleeve secured to the sleeve over the slit.

4. In a bag, a valve extending into the bag at one corner and adapted to receive a filling spout, the valve including an inwardly extending flexible valve sleeve, the sleeve being folded on its longitudinal center line and having adjacent sides, the sleeve being weakened along its longitudinal center line toward its inner end, the sleeve also being weakened on lines diverging away from the center line in inward direction, and a piece of sheet material of greater flexibility than the material of the sleeve secured to the sleeve over the weakened portions of the sleeve.

5. In a bag, a valve extending into the bag at one corner and adapted to receive a filling spout, the valve including an inwardly extending flexible valve sleeve, the bag having a closure at the respective end thereof, the sleeve being folded on a central fold line and having adjacent sides, the sleeve comprising a base portion having side margins caught in said end closure, and a folded central extension projecting inward from the base portion, the two halves of the folded extension having inclined edges which intersect edges of the base portion at points spaced inward from said end closure, said inclined edges converging toward the central fold of the sleeve in inward direction, the extension having an inner edge extending crosswise of the central fold and being free of said end closure, the sleeve having a central slit toward its inner end, and a piece of crease-resistant sheet material of greater flexibility than the material of the 10. In a bag as set forth in claim 5, said sleeve further sleeve secured to the sleeve over the slit. being weakened on lines diverging away from the center 6. In a bag as set forth in claim 5, said piece of maline in inward direction, and said piece of material also terial consisting of a strip extending from end-to-end of overlying said lines. the sleeve. 5

7. In a bag as set forth in claim 5, said slit being of References Cited in the file of this patent rectangular shape. UNITED STATES PATENTS 8. In a bag as set forth in clann 5, said slit being of 2,040,335 Rosmait May 12, 1936 mangular Shape 2148 648 Rose Feb 28 1939 9. In a bag as set forth in claim 5, said slit being a 10 line slit widening toward the inner end of the sleeve. 265145] Bennett Sept 1953 

